diff --git a/docs/plans/2026-03-15-civitai-stats-shim-design.md b/docs/plans/2026-03-15-civitai-stats-shim-design.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cbc85b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/plans/2026-03-15-civitai-stats-shim-design.md
@@ -0,0 +1,157 @@
+# CivitAI Extended Stats Shim — Design
+
+## Problem
+
+The LoRA Manager fetches metadata from CivitAI but discards stats (download count, rating, thumbs up). Users want to sort and filter loras by popularity/quality, and see these stats on model cards — like CivitAI's own UI.
+
+## Constraints
+
+- No modifications to the original LoRA Manager codebase (avoid merge conflicts on upstream sync)
+- Lives inside ComfyUI-LM-Remote, which already has proxy middleware intercepting API responses
+- Must handle CivitAI API rate limits gracefully when bulk-fetching stats
+- Stats should persist across restarts (SQLite)
+
+## Architecture
+
+### Hybrid Shim Approach
+
+- **Separate SQLite DB** (`civitai_stats.db`) for extended stats — avoids schema conflicts with the manager's own cache
+- **Proxy enrichment** — the existing middleware intercepts `/api/lm/loras/list` responses from the remote and merges stats into each item before forwarding to the browser
+- **New API endpoints** on LM-Remote for the bulk fetch button and status checks
+- **Frontend JS** injected via LM-Remote's `web/comfyui/` directory, patches sort dropdown and card rendering
+
+### Data Flow
+
+```
+List request:
+  Browser → GET /api/lm/loras/list
+    → proxy fetches response from remote
+    → enriches each item with stats from local civitai_stats.db
+    → returns merged response to browser
+
+Bulk fetch (initial):
+  Browser → POST /api/lm-extra/fetch-stats
+    → handler reads models from remote list API
+    → extracts civitai_model_id + sha256 for each
+    → batches CivitAI API calls (/api/v1/models?ids=id1,id2,...)
+    → stores stats in civitai_stats.db
+    → WebSocket progress updates
+    → frontend auto-refreshes grid when done
+
+Piggyback (ongoing):
+  When proxy intercepts metadata sync responses that contain stats,
+  opportunistically store them in civitai_stats.db
+```
+
+## SQLite Schema
+
+File: `civitai_stats.db` (stored alongside LM-Remote's config)
+
+```sql
+CREATE TABLE model_stats (
+    sha256 TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
+    civitai_model_id INTEGER,
+    civitai_version_id INTEGER,
+    download_count INTEGER,
+    rating REAL,
+    rating_count INTEGER,
+    thumbs_up_count INTEGER,
+    fetched_at REAL
+);
+```
+
+Keyed by `sha256` — the common identifier between the manager's cache and CivitAI. Joins naturally regardless of file paths or renames.
+
+## API Endpoints (LM-Remote)
+
+| Method | Path | Purpose |
+|--------|------|---------|
+| POST | `/api/lm-extra/fetch-stats` | Bulk fetch stats for all models (button) |
+| GET | `/api/lm-extra/stats-status` | Check if stats DB is populated, staleness info |
+
+## Proxy Response Enrichment
+
+The middleware intercepts the `/api/lm/loras/list` response and:
+
+1. Parses the JSON response body
+2. Collects all `sha256` values from items
+3. Batch-queries `civitai_stats.db` (single SELECT with IN clause)
+4. Merges `download_count`, `rating`, `rating_count`, `thumbs_up_count` into each item
+5. Returns the enriched response
+
+## Sorting
+
+### New Sort Options
+
+Added to the sort dropdown alongside existing options (name, date, size, usage):
+
+| Value | Label |
+|-------|-------|
+| `downloads:desc` | Most downloaded |
+| `downloads:asc` | Least downloaded |
+| `rating:desc` | Highest rated |
+| `rating:asc` | Lowest rated |
+| `thumbsup:desc` | Most liked |
+| `thumbsup:asc` | Least liked |
+
+### Sort Implementation
+
+When the proxy sees these sort values in the list request, sorting is handled locally:
+
+1. Fetch the full (unpaginated) list from remote
+2. Join with stats DB
+3. Sort locally
+4. Apply pagination
+5. Return result
+
+Items without stats sort to the end.
+
+## Frontend Changes
+
+All in `ComfyUI-LM-Remote/web/comfyui/`.
+
+### Card Badges
+
+Small badges on each model card (styled like the existing base model badge):
+
+- Download icon + count (e.g., "12.3k")
+- Star icon + rating (e.g., "4.8")
+- Thumbs-up icon + count (e.g., "89")
+
+Numbers use compact formatting (1000 → "1k", 12345 → "12.3k").
+
+### Toolbar Button
+
+A "Fetch Stats" button in the toolbar (next to existing Fetch/Download buttons):
+
+- Chart-bar icon
+- Triggers POST to `/api/lm-extra/fetch-stats`
+- Shows progress via WebSocket
+- Auto-refreshes grid on completion
+
+### Sort Dropdown Patch
+
+JS extension adds the new sort options to the existing `#sortSelect` dropdown on page load.
+
+## Bulk Fetch Strategy
+
+CivitAI's `/api/v1/models?ids=` endpoint accepts multiple model IDs per request.
+
+1. Collect all unique `civitai_model_id` values from the lora list
+2. Batch into groups (e.g., 50 IDs per request)
+3. For each batch, fetch model data and extract `stats` from the matching version
+4. Rate-limit: 1-2 requests/second with backoff on 429 responses
+5. Broadcast progress via WebSocket (e.g., "Fetching stats: 150/300 models")
+
+## Piggyback Strategy
+
+When the existing metadata sync runs (triggered by the manager's refresh/fetch), the proxy can intercept the CivitAI API response if it flows through, and opportunistically extract stats. This covers new models added after the initial bulk fetch.
+
+## Files to Create/Modify
+
+| File | Action |
+|------|--------|
+| `stats_db.py` | NEW — SQLite wrapper for civitai_stats.db |
+| `stats_service.py` | NEW — bulk fetch logic, CivitAI API calls, rate limiting |
+| `proxy.py` | MODIFY — intercept list response, enrich with stats; add sort handling |
+| `web/comfyui/lm_stats_ui.js` | NEW — card badges, toolbar button, sort dropdown patch |